Qui Ma Springs
by Kali Swifteye
Summary: Our favorite four stumble across a deserted village, a secret past, and a odious curse. Will they be able to uncover the mystery before it's too late?
1. The Plague

"Ero kappa! I don't care if your beer is warm; I'm not getting you another one. I'm not your servant! Plus, I'm really hungry, I think I'm starving!" moaned Goku.  
  
"You're not going to starve, and you're the closest to the cooler, monkey boy, so you get it!" Gojyo retorted.  
  
Goku pulled out a can and grinned evilly, his golden eyes dancing. "Oh, look! A nice, cold beer. And it's all mine."  
  
"Why you little..."  
  
"Will you two shut up already?!" Gojyo and Goku cringed from the paper-fan wielding Sanzo. "If you don't stop it, I'll gladly leave you in the desert to fight over the stupid beer!"  
  
Hakkai chuckled softly, staring at the road ahead of them. "Luckily for them, there seems to be trees up ahead, as well as civilization."  
  
The two sitting in the back immediately looked up, forgetting about their fight. "Food!" exclaimed Goku happily.  
  
"Women," Gojyo sighed, content.  
  
Sanzo turned a wary eye on Gojyo. "Don't start hitting on innocent girls again, Gojyo." The half breed just shrugged, smiling slyly as Hakuryu pulled into the town. The dragon/jeep rumbled along slowly in the apparently deserted town.  
  
"Don't count on it, Gojyo," remarked Hakkai. "There seems to be no people." He looked around curiously. "What's that smell?"  
  
Goku peered into the windows as Hakuryu slowed down even more. "I wonder what happened?" Hakuryu passed by an open door, and suddenly Goku fell back and put a hand over his nose. "Ew! Smells like rotting carcasses." Goku stopped at what he just said, and looked over unsurely at the other three. "You don't think..."  
  
"Hakkai, tell Hakuryu to stop. Now." Sanzo said sharply. He got out of the jeep, Goku, Gojyo and Hakkai not far behind. Looking through the door, he stopped, turned around, and walked back out emotionless, letting the other see. Inside the building were two children, eyes wide and staring, dried blood all over their mouths and fronts of their shirts. The girl had her hands clutching a ragged doll, and the boy, apparently her brother, clung to her body, tear tracks still visible down his dirty face. Goku stared, shocked; Gojyo looked away; Hakkai slowly went near the children and crouched next to them, brushing the hair off the little girl's face. "All the other houses next to this have the same thing." The three looked up, startled, as they had not realized Sanzo had left. "No wounds, no signs of a battle, just blood around their mouths."  
  
Goku looked out the door. "Hey, hey Sanzo! You hear something?" Looking up from the bodies, Sanzo looked around. "It sounds like a person."  
  
Hakkai got up and left hurriedly, searching for the source of the now- audible groans. They got louder as he reached the edge of the village, and soon he found a man lying on the ground next to an old, stone well. The youkai knelt next to the man. "Are you alright? What happened here?" he asked the man urgently, helping him sit up.  
  
The man looked up. "I am Kintse." He began to cough uncontrollably, and Hakkai shushed him.  
  
"Please, do not talk. It will make you-"  
  
"My entire village has died but me, stranger." Kintse looked up at him with glassy, beseeching eyes. "Please, listen to me. This is a plague- infested place. It is a horrible thing, which eats you from the inside out." He began to cough again. By this time Goku, Gojyo, and Sanzo were also near and listening. He began again, voice low and tortured. "We had a physician here, but he was mad. All he raved about was his medicines, and how someday he would become famous and rich for them. He killed a woman and her unborn child with one of his concoctions that he called medicine. A simple sickness, she could have been easily saved by a simple herb! But he had to go and test one of his inventions on her." His face bcame contorted with anger. "We outcast him from the village, but before he left he gave a village child a gift. He told her it was a special candy that he made just for her, and sure enough she ate it. That piece of food he gave the child was a mixture of strange, foreign poisons and herbs. She contracted the plague and soon died." Kintse clenched his hands in tight fists, and his body became racked with sobs. He pounded his fists against the wall as hard as he could in his state, and angry tear streamed out of his grief-filled eyes. "That monster started the plague in a little child. That monster killed my wife, my unborn son, and my little girl." He shook, body and mind consumed by his mourning. Slowly he looked up at them, eyes now emotionless and empty.  
  
"Then they all started to die. First Kalali, Ridhai, and Zuhrad." He said matter-of-factly. "Then it got worse and worse, and soon the doctors died, and the herbs ran out, and the people could do nothing to stop the pain. It seemed like as soon as one person died from the disease, another caught it. It was like a spirit leapt from the dying body of one to the living one of another. We didn't know how the plague went from one person to another, and we couldn't figure it out. And others were killed trying to get to the spring-"His eyes snapped wide open, and he began to scream in torment and shake. Blood started to dribble out of his mouth. Hakkai placed his hands above the pain-riddled man's abdomen, but his chi seemed to do no good. Goku stood back in horror as blood began to flow out of his mouth, pumping out more with each heartbeat. Leaning back, Kintse breathed out a name rasply, before his head fell limp onto his shoulder and the blood, once gushing out of his mouth, now trickled down his cheek from the corner of his mouth.  
  
Goku looked nervously at the man. "Hey, Hakkai, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps. Hakkai?" The brunette closed the dead man's eyes, then turned and looked at the others; his usual, ever-cheerful face was replaced by one of solemn compassion. He nodded, got up, and got into the waiting jeep/dragon. Hakuryu chirped, worried about his master.  
  
Hakkai smiled. "Don't worry, Hakuryu, I'm fine. Let's see if we can find a place to rest for the night, away from here." They all got into the jeep, and rode out of the cursed village. No one noticed, in the fading light of twilight, that Hakkai had turned the same pale shade Kintse had been. 


	2. The Inn

"Hello, any one home?" Sanzo pounded on the door of the small inn. "Anyone there?"  
  
An old woman opened the door. She was tall and limber, and blonde streaks showed her natural hair color that was once there. Her eyes were a deep brown, almost black. She smiled sweetly. "Why, travelers! Three demons, a human, and a dragon, my my! Come right in!" She hustled them in without another thought, and had to push a stunned Goku through the door.  
  
"How can you- but we don't-"  
  
She laughed softly. "My dear boy, when you've a gift as I do, you can be very sharp at times. My name is Takari, and this is the Qui Ma Inn, named after the Qui Ma Spring. It's been the family business for almost three hundred years, you know," she added, eyes dancing. "Make yourself at home." She looked at Hakkai and pursed her lips. "My dear boy, what is wrong? You are looking dreadfully pale." Hakkai began to speak, but instead started to cough. Takari's eyebrows snapped together. "Oh dear. The plague."  
  
"WHAT?" chorused the confused Goku and Gojyo. "We just came from there- the thing can't work that fast! You must be joking!"  
  
Takari frowned and led Hakkai to a chair. "I'm afraid it can. You see, there was a physician who worked in the town, and-"  
  
"Yes, we've heard," said an impatient Sanzo. "A man by the name of Kintse told us before he died."  
  
"Kintse?" the old woman gasped and placed her hand on her heart. "Oh dear. My poor grandson. At least he is with his beloved wife and children." She shook her head and began to mutter to herself. "This was not expected. I must talk to Yazmin about it. Yes, Yazmin will know what to do." She turned back to the other three. "This is not a joke, understand?" She said softly. "The plague has been known to kill in a time of twenty-four hours, sometimes less." She turned to a quiet Gojyo and fixed a stern stare at him. "Go to the river and fetch me a pail of water. Mind you, don't go past the boulders. It tends to be a bit dangerous by the spring."  
  
"Hey now, lady, send monkey boy here to do it-"  
  
"I want none of your arguing young man; you go get me that water!" She said in a reprimanding tone.  
  
Hakkai managed to chuckle. His monocle had fallen off, and his eyes were an electric green, set off by his abnormally pale face. "Gojyo, you look like you've just been scolded by your dear grandmother."  
  
Goku began to laugh. "Haha, kappa got told by an old lady!"  
  
"As for you, go with him. I want some good fish for dinner, you hear?" Takari pointed at Goku. He snapped into attention.  
  
"Yes Ma'am! Food is what I love best!!" He ran off after a sulking Gojyo. "Hey, cockroach, wait for me! Oww, don't put a dent in the bucket just because you have a short temper. Hey, that-youch- hurt stop-oww! - it!"  
  
Takari turned and inspected Sanzo. "Well, monk, what are you waiting for? Take your friend to a room- I'm much too old to carry him. I'll get out some of my herbs."  
  
"Wouldn't they be used up from the plague?" questioned Sanzo.  
  
The old woman sighed, and suddenly she looked a lot older than she had first appeared. "By the time I received news of the plague, it was too late. I couldn't make the journey back to the village, and the messenger died as soon as he got here."  
  
"From the plague?" Sanzo persisted.  
  
Takari walked towards the kitchen, ignoring him. "Take your friend to his room. I'll be there in a minute." Sanzo watched her go, and as he picked up Hakkai he thought of what Takari and Kintse had said.  
  
"And others were killed trying to get to the spring..."  
  
"Qui Ma Inn, named after the Qui Ma Springs."  
  
"It tends to be a bit dangerous by the spring..."  
  
"Yazmin will know what to do."  
  
'Who is Yazmin, and what's so dangerous about these springs. Qui Ma, Qui Ma...why does that sound so familiar?' Sanzo shrugged to himself and took Hakkai to the room Takari had indicated. He opened the door, and then stopped dead, more in shock than in anything. The white walls were decorated all over with lavender, baby blue, and soft pink lilacs and lilies. The furniture and bed frame were a smooth, light mahogany, and the bed cover and pillows were lavender and white, with a lacy fringe. Many delicate, beautiful herbs were planted in the window sill and a vase of lilacs next to the bed. The window was open, and a gentle breeze fluttered the light blue curtains. The, well, cuteness of the room was strange, 'But not unbelievable for an inn run by an old lady,' Sanzo decided.  
  
"This room was mine, and used to be my mother's when she was a girl." Takari stood behind him, a slight smile on her wrinkled face. "And, my grandmother's, and her mother's, and her mother's. It seems to be a trait that the women of my family love this room." She placed the bowl she had been carrying on the nightstand, and helped Sanzo place Hakkai in the bed. As she took a piece of cloth out of the bowl, wrung it out, and began to dab at Hakkai's forehead, she continued to reminisce.  
  
"I remember waking up in the morning, the light filtering through the curtains and lighting up the room. I could hear my brothers out in the courtyard, laughing and playing. The smell of dumplings, eggs, and rice would float through the room, mixing with the sweet smells of lilac." She smiled sadly, and her eyes dimmed. "It's been a long time. My brothers and family have long since passed away, and now, I am the only one left." She closed her eyes. "Ah, but what should I expect, what with me being the age I am. I know I should bless Rhaiha for the age I have been given, but I still can't help but think it's more of a curse than a blessing."  
  
"Who's Rhaiha?" Sanzo asked, curious.  
  
Takari smiled. "Ah yes, I continue to forget that you are not a local of this area. Rhaiha is the goddess of the Qui Ma Springs, springs that are not that far from here." She shook her head. "She is a cruel goddess at times, but she protects those who are faithful to her. I only wonder what Kinste's village did to invoke her wrath..."  
  
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"Ha-ha! I beat you!" Goku taunted Gojyo, grinning. He jumped up onto a rock that was over the small river. "See! The river!"  
  
Gojyo's eyes narrowed. "Hey, when that wrinkled-monster told me that the river was near there, I wasn't thinking that it would be a mile away. No wonder the buckets are so huge. You wouldn't want to do a second trip."  
  
Goku scratched his head. "I don't get it. I would swear I saw a pump next to the inn, but the lady told us to go to the river. Weird. I mean-" Gojyo's bucket swung around and hit Goku in the head.  
  
"Less yapping, more working. I don't know why, but I want to get the hell away from this place."  
  
Goku frowned, rubbed his head, and crouched on a large boulder over the river, a fishing pole in his hand. "Well, I can't catch fish that fast it takes ti- what the hell??" His pole bent and was almost pulled out of his hands. After five minutes a large, shining fish was flopping on the riverbank. "That's gotta be the fastest I've ever caught a fish. But I still need mo-"In less than ten minutes Goku had two large fish lying next to the first one. Gojyo scratched his head.  
  
"This place is weird. No assassins, peaceful, and yet there's something strange about it." He leaned down to get a drink of water out of the river, but he quickly leaned back and let the water run through his fingers as a small bolt of lightning left a burned circle on the ground where his head had been. He sighed. "So much for no assassins."  
  
"And to think I almost gave up patrolling this section of the forest," a feminine voice drawled. "Yazmin would have been furious." Out of the forest stepped a woman with curly, pink hair. Her stormy gray eyes flashed, and she held up one hand casually. Sparks danced from finger to finger on her hand, like miniature lightning bolts.  
  
"Take it from me, boys, you wanna leave within two days. Let Takari help your friend, but after he's well you'd better leave." She smiled coldly. "And do what she says. A 150-year-old lady gains a lot of wisdom. You don't want to invoke the wrath of Rhaiha." She vanished into the background of the forest, and Goku sweated.  
  
"Um, what just happened here? And who the hell is Rhaiha?"  
  
Gojyo shrugged. "I have absolutely no clue." Picking up the buckets and fish, they walked away, not seeing a dark blue-and-black water snake slither off a rock and into the water soundlessly.  
  
AN- I'm sooooooo sorry it took me so long to finish this! I tried to make it extra long, just for all of my faithful readers (if I have any faithful readers...) 


End file.
